Bank Rossiya, Russia’s 17th biggest lender according to the
U.S.Treasury, was founded in 1990 by Yury Kovalchuk, Vladimir
Yakunin and Andrey Fursenko, three associates of Putin who are
also on the U.S. sanctions list. Kovalchuk holds about 38
percent of the bank, according to a regulatory filing.

The lender “absolutely doesn’t have any relationship to
these events,” Putin said. “This bank has clients, and not
only should we protect them, we should ensure that this
financial institution doesn’t face any negative consequences,
not for the bank or for its clients.”

Putin said he asked the central bank to support the lender.
The Moscow-based regulator said in a statement earlier today
that it was prepared to offer backing to protect the bank, its
clients and creditors. Bank Rossiya is operating normally,
though MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. halted processing for its
bank cards, the lender said in statements on its website today.